So Many Ways to be Wicked

Chapter 1

Maleficent stood tall and proud in front of the four children, a smirk on her thin lips. The woman was thin, even more so than she had been in her glory days. Behind the four children stood three other villains, Grimhilde, Jafar and Cruella de Vil.

"You've been summoned to Auradon, as you all know," Maleficent gestured to the four identical pieces of fancy parchment that had been crumpled and thrown to the ground in anger. "I expect you to retrieve the wand from that disgraceful faerie who protected Cinderella. You will go to Auradon and do anything you must to get me off this Isle. You do not want to know what I will do, what we," she gestures to the sneering villains around the room, "will do to you should you fail. Dismissed." Maleficent twirled around, her staff clutched in her hand with Diablo perched on top. She did not allow anyone to protest, whether it was the children or the adults. She disappeared into a room, slamming the door shut. Instantly, the adults in the room began talking, arguing with each other, although they would never try to argue with Maleficent when she was so obviously on a power trip. The kids were all frozen in place, different thoughts running through their head, although they all were generally the same; what the absolute fuck.

"The mutt will not be going!" Cruella's shriek shook the teens out of their stupor. They all looked at each other before they all locked eyes onto Carlos, Cruella's son. Their eyes held well-hidden apologies and anger on behalf of the boy. His dark eyes were blank, freckles standing out against his pale cheeks. "Who would take care of the chores for me? What's the point in having him if he can't do something useful?" With long strides, the woman had made her way beside Carlos. She grabbed him by the dark roots of his white hair and yanked. Carlos fell to his knees, though he didn't struggle against her. The three teens next to him, Jay, Evie, and Mal tensed, knowing if they tried to intervene it would make things worse for the boy. A boiling, dark anger gripped at their hearts at seeing the youngest of their group at the mercy of the madwoman.

"You will not go to Auradon, do you understand me, mutt?" The woman hissed, spit flying into Carlos' face. Carlos barely flinched, having dissociated a while ago. Like a robot, the boy whispered a quiet 'yes ma'am' that satisfied Cruella. She let go of his hair, shaking the clump she had pulled out off of her hand with a sneer. Carlos slumped forward, a hand slowly going to the back of his head. He drew his hand back sharply, though he didn't make a noise of pain. His fingers came back with a bit of blood on it and he knew without having to look that his friends were livid.

"Jadid cannot go either," Jafar threw in, always wanting to put in his own two cents. Jay rolled his eyes before turning to face the man, keeping his face carefully blank. Even the slightest twitch of his face could set his father off, yelling and screaming about how Jay was useless, a bastard child with no talent, how everything would be better if Jafar had tossed Jay off the edge of the Isle and let the sharks have at him. "Jay has tasks that need to be fulfilled, my shop needs to be stocked. Even if his wares are abysmal and disappointing, much like himself." Jafar sneered at the tall boy, crossing his thin arms over his chest.

"Well, Genevieve will be happy to go. She's a princess, that is where she belongs. With a handsome prince that she can marry. Not too mention the amount of money she will inherit once that handsome prince dies suddenly," Grimhilde smiled wide, a faraway look in her dark eyes. Evie walked to her mother's side, her mother grabbing her slender wrist.

"Yes, and once he is out of the picture, I would send for you, mother," Evie said in a gentle voice. Grimhilde's smile grew impossibly wider and her long nails cut into Evie's wrist.

"That's ENOUGH," Mal shouted, fed up with everyone talking and arguing over something that could not be changed. Mal's eyes flashed an iridescent green, the only hint that she possessed Maleficent's heritage as a faerie. Begrudgingly, the elder villains stopped talking to themselves and muttering threats to their child (at least in the de Vil's case). "Unless you want to be chopped up by the goblins and thrown into the water or fed to the beggars, I suggest you remind yourselves that this plan was made by Maleficent, someone much more powerful than the three of you combined. The plan will go into play and there is nothing you can do to stop it. No one will care if the creep in the shop, the hermit from the old castle and the insane puppy skinner (oh I'm sorry, you never actually were able to go through with that were you?) suddenly disappeared." The three children of said villains stepped away from the parents slightly, expecting an explosion. There was none, not yet anyway.

"Come, Jadid, we must go," Jafar said, his skeletal face turned into a sneer, an evil look in his black, beady eyes.

"He will go nowhere. If you don't remember, Jafar, but we must plan and you don't want to cross Maleficent, right?" Mal smirked. They had one week to plan, enough time where they can hide out in Carlos' hideout or in an abandoned room in Grimhilde's castle. The kids had things they needed to do and Mal needed every one of them at their best, especially if they were to approach a certain gang on the Isle. Jafar grimaced and disappeared, his ratty cloak sweeping out with him. Cruella had devolved to talking to herself and her fur coat and Grimhilde hadn't heard a word, too busy fussing over the wrinkles she had gained. Mal took advantage of the situation, beckoning the three other villain children to follow her. They made their way out the back door of the castle and through the streets.

"What's going on Mal?" Evie whispered, smiling coyly at a middle-aged henchman while Jay swiftly took what he had been holding and what had been in his pockets. They swiftly danced around any potential threats and broke any hands that tried to pickpocket them.

"Mal, where is it we're going?" Carlos asked, barely looking as he twisted the wrist in his hands until he heard a cry of pain and a snap. He threw the elder villain's arm away from him and caught up with the others.

"To the hideout, where Maleficent won't be able to use her nasty little spies to listen to us talk about our plan for Auradon," Mal finally answered. They were in a more abandoned part of the Isle, so she thought it okay to finally speak. However, she caught the sight of a shadow moving in an alley. She froze, a hand coming up to stop the rest of the gang. She then pointed down the alley. Jay and Carlos broke out of formation, being the strongest and quickest of the bunch. They peeked around the corner to see Gil Legume hurriedly rushing towards the peer.

"Fuck," Carlos whispered before sprinting after the man. He easily jumped and ducked under obstacles that gave Gil trouble, meaning he caught up with the teen quite easily. Jay was close behind, backup in case Carlos needed it. Carlos perched atop a pipe that ran from building to building before pouncing down, landing nimbly on his feet right in front of Gil. Gil startled, backing up into Jay. Carlos smiled charmingly.

"Now where do you think you're going?" He asked in a smooth, quiet voice. It sent shivers down Gil's back, and not pleasantly like the shivers running up Jay's back.

"Um-I was just, ya know, heading to the shop to, uh, talk to Uma," Gil stammered out, eyes widening when he looked behind Jay to see the two girls walking towards them.

"And what, evil tell, were you going to talk to her about?" Evie asked sweetly. Gil perked up, a goofy grin plastered on his face.

"I was gonna tell her about you talking about Auradon and your plan!" He exclaimed, giddy like a small puppy. Mal stepped forward.

"Let him go Carlos, Jay. Legume, tell Shrimpy I want to talk. The Pirate Queen, I hear she calls herself. Obviously a bad parody of the Dragon Queen, but whatever sinks her boat," Mal sneered. Carlos stepped out of the way and they all watched as the Legume boy stumbled his way to the Fish and Chips shop Uma and her little pirate crew worked at.

"This is going to be great, much better than expected," Mal sing-songed before turning on her heel and heading back towards the hideout.

Once inside the graffitied walls, they all crash landed onto the closest bed. They were all completely overwhelmed with what had to be done, but they also had to come up with a game plan for whenever Uma got the message.

"We'll be going to the shop tonight," Mal said from her spot squished between Evie and Carlos.

"Why do you need to speak with Uma anyway?" Evie asked, resisting the urge to furrow her brow. Wrinkles were unsightly.

"The shrimp may be a bitch but she's been able to round up an entire crew and get them to follow her and her alone, without the use of her mother," Mal spat out, grinding her teeth. "We could use someone like that when we take over Auradon. When we are the kings and queens, we can't have those pirates working against us, now can we?"

"What?" Carlos asked, sitting straight up and jostling Jay with his bony shoulder. "We aren't gonna get the wand and free Maleficent?"

"Evil no Carlos, get with it," Mal said, though there was little malice in her tone. "Why would I give the wand to a bunch of pathetic has-beens who didn't even get it right when they had the chance? No, we will steal the wand but not for them. We will become rulers of Auradon! Us and all the other VKs stuck on this hell of an Isle. We'll see who's laughing, then."